Canadian Dollar Mixed Ahead of GDP

The Canadian dollar was mixed on Thursday, rising against the euro but falling versus the US dollar and staying almost flat against the Japanese yen. Domestic macroeconomic data was also mixed, making no incentive for the currency to go one way or the other.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that housing starts were at the seasonally adjusted annual rate of 206,314 in July, down from 246,200 in June. Analysts had expected a somewhat bigger figure in the neighborhood of 220,000.

Meanwhile, the New Housing Price Index edged up 0.1% in June, according to the data from Statistics Canada, rising for the first time since November 2017. Experts had predicted no change, the same as in the previous month.

Now, traders wait for the employment report for July due for release on Friday. Ahead of the release, forecasters had estimated that employment grew by 17,500 after jumping by 31,800 in June. The unemployment rate is expected to tick down from 6.0% to 5.9%.

USD/CAD edged up from 1.3020 to 1.3047 as of 22:31 GMT today. EUR/CAD dropped from 1.5114 to 1.5040. CAD/JPY traded at about 85.16 after opening at 85.18 on Thursday.

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